Abstract
Nitrogen fertilizer has a significant participation in the cost of agricultural production. It is less efficient agronomically and requires more studies to find strategies to be absorbed by crop. Polymer-coated urea is an alternative for the production of increased efficiency fertilizers. Validation of this technology should be performed for safe adoption in agriculture. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the nitrogen losses by volatilization of ammonia and the nitrogen contents in the nitric (N-NO3-) and ammoniacal (N-NH4+) forms in the tropical soil after application of urea sources. Three greenhouse experiments with different soil moisture conditions were carried out after application of urea, urea treated with NBPT and urea coated with Policote polymer as treatments. Then volatilization of ammonia, N-NO3- and N-NH4+ contents in the soil was evaluated. The volatilization of ammonia was observed after using Policote-coated urea, which was similar to urea treated with NBPT. However, both of which were lower than that observed under urea application. In dry or very humid soil, the ammonia volatilization rate was low. The reduction of the volatilization of ammonia in the soil with Policote-coated urea was related on the humidity, whereas more effective when the conditions were more propitious to the volatilization of ammonia. The Policote-coated urea increased the content of N-NH4+ in the tropical soil compared to urea. The content of N-NH4+ in the soil was higher than N-NO3- after application of fertilizers due to the low organic matter content.
Published Version
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